在過去80年里,人們選擇更高水平教育基因的傾向不斷下降,研究人員認(rèn)為如今這種基因已處于負(fù)選擇,在接下來的幾百年里可能對我們?nèi)祟愡@個(gè)物種產(chǎn)生重要影響。

A study involving more than 100,000 people in Iceland found that those who carry the genes for longer education time were less likely to have a big family, which means the smartest people in the room were actually contributing less to the Icelandic gene pool.

在冰島一個(gè)10萬人參與的研究顯示,攜帶“選擇更高水平教育基因”的人擁有一個(gè)大家庭的可能性更小,這也就是說,他們其中最聰明的人反而對冰島基因庫的貢獻(xiàn)較小。

"As a species, we are defined by the power of our brains. Education is the training and refining of our mental capacities," said Kari Stefansson, CEO of Icelandic genetics firm deCODE, which ran the study. "Thus, it is fascinating to find that genetic factors linked to more time spent in education are becoming rarer in the gene pool."

這項(xiàng)研究的發(fā)起人,冰島遺傳學(xué)公司deCODE的首席執(zhí)行官Kari Stefansson說“作為一個(gè)物種,我們的力量皆是大腦所賜,而教育則是鍛煉重塑我們心智的手段,因此探尋到底是什么原因使得基因庫中的在教育上花費(fèi)更過時(shí)間的基因變得稀缺是很有意義的。”

To be clear, this does not necessarily mean that humans are getting dumber - we’re going to need a whole lot more evidence to get anywhere near a conclusion like that.

并不能因此就說人類就變得越來越愚鈍——要證明這一點(diǎn)我們還需要更多的研究。

There’s also the fact that more people are getting access to education than ever before, so even if less educated people are having more offspring, non-genetic factors like more schools could counteract and even eclipse the effect.

如今有更多的人能接受到教育,所以即使未受教育的人的后代更多,但更普及的學(xué)校教育也可以低效甚至掩蓋基因上的不足。

But if we look at the trend over the course of several centuries into the future - well beyond the proliferation of schools and training access - the researchers say it could have a significant effect on our species in the long run.

但是如果我們設(shè)想這樣的趨勢發(fā)展數(shù)百年——教育和培訓(xùn)的普及程度已經(jīng)遠(yuǎn)不能稱為影響因素的時(shí)候——研究人員稱這種趨勢就嚴(yán)重影響到人類這個(gè)物種的長久發(fā)展。

"It is remarkable to report changes ... that are measurable across the several decades covered by this study," the study concludes."In evolutionary time, this is a blink of an eye. However, if this trend persists over many centuries, the impact could be profound."

該項(xiàng)研究稱:“研究并統(tǒng)計(jì)接下來數(shù)十年的變化情況是非常重要的,在人類的進(jìn)化史中,這也許只是一眨眼的功夫,但是如果這種趨勢持續(xù)了幾百年,影響則是十分深遠(yuǎn)的。”